Need Medical Assistants? How California Clinics Can Build Their Own Hiring Pipeline
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California clinics are facing a growing challenge of finding and keeping qualified medical assistants. The demand for trained, reliable staff keeps rising, but the number of job-ready candidates continues to shrink. If your clinic is trying to hire medical assistants in California, you’re not alone.
But what if you could meet medical assistants for hire before they even start applying?
That’s exactly what CALRegional’s externship partnerships make possible.
By becoming an externship site, your clinic can access trained, insured medical assistant students completing their final phase of hands-on training. It’s a no-cost, low-risk way to fill staffing gaps, speed up onboarding, and build a reliable pipeline of future hires you already know and trust.
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Why It’s So Hard to Hire Medical Assistants in California
California’s healthcare staffing shortage has made entry-level roles especially tough to fill. Many clinics are short on front-office and back-office staff, while patient demand keeps climbing. According to the California Hospital Association, the state must add 500,000 new allied health care professionals, including medical assistants, to meet growing workforce needs.
With such intense competition for qualified talent, traditional hiring methods are slow and expensive. Even when you find someone who looks qualified on paper, most new hires still need extensive on-the-job training. That means lost time, lower efficiency, and extra supervision for your staff.
Externships solve that problem by letting you meet and train medical assistants in California directly in your own environment before they enter the job market.
What CALRegional Externships Are
Externships are short, unpaid clinical placements that provide students with real-world experience after completing their classroom training.
CALRegional administers allied health programs through medical assistant school partnerships with local adult schools and colleges across California. These partnerships prepare students for immediate clinical support roles in the field.
Programs available for placement include:
- Clinical Medical Assistant
- Pharmacy Technician
Students of these programs must complete an externship to graduate. Your facility provides the setting where they apply their skills, and CALRegional handles everything else from matching and scheduling to insurance and oversight.
Read More: Answering Our Top 10 Externship Questions
Medical Assistant externships last 160 hours (around 4 weeks), and students are fully insured through CALRegional. They work under your team’s supervision, assisting with patient intake, vitals, documentation, lab procedures, and administrative tasks.
For your clinic, it’s like a trial period where you can preview potential medical assistants for hire without adding to payroll or HR workload.
The Benefits of Hosting Medical Assistant Externs
1. Access Job-Ready Talent Early
Externs arrive trained in both front-office and back-office procedures. They’ve already completed classroom and lab work and are eager to apply what they’ve learned. You’ll gain temporary clinical support and a first look at motivated candidates ready to enter the workforce.
2. No Cost, No Risk
Externships are unpaid, and CALRegional provides full liability insurance for every student. That means your clinic receives extra help without financial or legal exposure.
3. Reduce Hiring and Training Time
Externs get hands-on experience in your environment, with your systems and workflows. When you hire a former extern, onboarding is faster because they already understand how your clinic operates.
4. Simplify the Process
CALRegional’s team manages scheduling, paperwork, and student placement. You tell us your needs, and we match students who fit. We also check in during the placement to make sure everything runs smoothly.
5. Strengthen Your Workforce Pipeline
Hosting externs creates an ongoing medical assistant staffing pipeline. Many clinics hire directly from the extern pool, saving time and recruitment costs.
6. Support Your Community
By partnering with CALRegional, your clinic helps train the next generation of healthcare professionals. You contribute to the community while getting access to motivated, well-trained students.
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How to Partner With CALRegional to Hire Medical Assistants in California
Becoming an externship site with CALRegional is simple.
- Submit a quick interest form on the CALRegional website.
- Our team contacts you to confirm fit, placement needs, and program type.
- We match you with pre-screened students based on your facility and schedule.
- You interview the student if you’d like to ensure a good fit.
- Externship begins, with CALRegional providing oversight, documentation, and ongoing support.
After the externship, you can provide feedback or hire your extern if it’s a good match. Many of our 1,500+ partner facilities do exactly that.
What Tasks Medical Assistant Externs Can Handle
Externs are trained in core medical assistant responsibilities, including:
- Taking patient vitals and recording medical histories
- Preparing exam rooms and equipment
- Assisting with basic clinical procedures
- Performing venipuncture (if certified)
- Handling front-office duties like scheduling and patient intake
- Supporting lab and specimen collection processes
Externs work under supervision, following your team’s protocols and scope of practice guidelines. They’re there to help, learn, and contribute, not replace employees.
Read More: Inside the Medical Assistant Program
How CALRegional Supports Every Externship
Partnering with CALRegional means you’re never on your own. We handle:
- Student matching and screening
- Liability insurance coverage for every extern
- Scheduling and documentation
- Regular check-ins and support
- Issue resolution if needed
Our goal is to make externships easy for clinics with no administrative burden, no confusion, and no added cost.
Why 1,500+ Healthcare Facilities Have Partnered with CALRegional
Since 2013, CALRegional has worked with more than 1,500 healthcare facilities across California and Texas to train job-ready allied health professionals.
These partnerships span:
- Medical clinics
- Hospitals and urgent care centers
- Diagnostic labs
- Community health organizations
- Pharmacies
Partners often start with one extern and end up hosting multiple students each cycle. Once they see how easy and beneficial it is, externships become part of their ongoing hiring strategy.
Read More: About CALRegional’s History and Mission
FAQ
No. Externships are unpaid and designed for students completing the final phase of their training. You provide supervision and on-the-job training, not compensation.
Yes. CALRegional provides full liability insurance for every extern. Your clinic is fully protected throughout the externship.
Once you complete the interest form, CALRegional can typically match you with qualified students within a few weeks. Timing depends on your location, program type, and current extern availability.
Build Your Own Hiring Pipeline of Medical Assistants in California
Hosting a CALRegional extern is easy, free, and rewarding. Whether you need short-term clinical help or want to meet future medical assistants for hire, partnering with CALRegional is one of the most effective ways to hire medical assistants in California who are already trained, insured, and ready to contribute.
Ready to start? Join over 1,500 California healthcare facilities that already partner with CALRegional.
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